A Different U2

[dismantle]

Would U2 have been a different band had POP been a commercial/critical "hit"? Would we have even seen ATYCLB and HTDAAB - albums clearly with the intention of bringing fans back into the fold. It has been reported many times, U2 took it quite personally over POP and I believe it took a little of their mojo away.

It's too bad that, I would have liked to see how U2 would have evolved had POP been a "hit". They would have no doubt been a different band sonically and artistically.

POP in my books is one of their best and it took huge ones to take a risk like that...

Just thought it would be interesting to discuss....

 

[BVS]

This has to do with new album how?

Yes, I think U2 would have been a different band. Which way they would have gone, we'll never know, we can just speculate. I think at some point they would have eventually came back to a ATYCLB type album(maybe it was good that they did it when they did)...

I don't think they would have continued the "electronica" aspect of their music too much longer, and I do think we would have still seen U2 go the more optimistic mood...

But then we would have never gotten NLOTH, and although it may not be a perfect album, I really like the general direction, mood, approach...

WE WILL NEVER KNOW

 

[daithidaithi]

good question dismantle. eh thats life i suppose

 

[medley]

I think the biggest risk after Pop was to do a disc like ATYCLB. At that time no one seriously thought that U2 was still able to write this kind of songs that made them so popular back in the 80s. The easiest way would have be to go further in the same direction as AB/Zooropa and Pop and not challenging themselves to be hugely relevant again in terms of sales. I don't see ATYCLB and HTDAAB as "albums clearly with the intention of bringing fans back into the fold" but as the best option they have to take as this moment of their career not really in a commercial way but mostly in an artistic way.

 

[mrex]

If you want to imagine a different U2, try to figure out what would have happened if Rattle and Hum had been a huge critical success. That's when the U2 bashing became very mainstream. It's that fallout that casued them to "deam it up again."